Holy Week
Posted: March 31, 2026Holy Week. It is the oldest Christian observance — far older than the celebration of Christ’s birth. The Great Three Days (Triduum) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter — these are God’s gift to us.
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How Much Snow?!
Posted: March 24, 2026After a week of true Northern Michigan winter, where communities saw several inches of snow accumulation, fierce winds, and drifts reaching multiple feet high, one story coming out of our synod was nothing short of inspiring!
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Worthy of Praise
Posted:The Pigeon on the red rocks is hanging out in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs. The black bird sitting on the snow is an Alpine Chough, which I met on the top of Nordkette, a mountain in the Austrian Alps. Honestly, I don’t know that I would have paid much attention to either bird if it weren’t for one of my young parishioners from Hope, Rockford who is passionate about birds. His love and knowledge have inspired me to pay more attention to the feathered friends around me.
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Fast for the Eyes
Posted:This photo was taken at the Cathedral of St. James in Innsbruck, Austria. I was there last year near the end of Lent. Every one of the churches I visited had some piece of temporary artwork hung in front of the reredos (the panel behind the altar). Many also had pieces of purple cloth covering the cross. This is a widespread practice in Roman Catholic churches, and even among a few Lutheran churches. At the very least, this happens on Good Friday in many of our churches. The instruction in the Roman Catholic church is that this begins on the Fifth Sunday of Lent through Good Friday, but I don’t want to get too far into the weeds about the particulars of this practice!
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An Embarrassment of Riches
Posted: March 10, 2026Have you heard the expression, “an embarrassment of riches?” It’s this idea that you have so much that it’s almost too much — more than one person should have. When I think of living in Michigan and the water arounds us, the phrase “an embarrassment of riches” comes to mind. This past week, as I gathered with the Conference of Bishops, with all of the bishops in the ELCA, I may or may not have teased my colleagues from Ohio about their serious lack of lakes.
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From Above
Posted: March 6, 2026On Sunday, we heard this in the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus: Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.” Hopefully at some point you have heard your pastor talk about how that phrase can be translated “born from above” or “born again.” If you haven’t and you would like to know more, please ask your pastor. I’m going to go off in a different direction from here.
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Dove of the Holy Ghost
Posted: February 24, 2026This is an art piece in the Tirolean Museum of Folk Art in Innsbruck, Austria. It is entitled “Dove of the Holy Ghost” and is from the first half of the 19th Century. To me this looks less like a holy dove and more like a crazy chicken.
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The Muck
Posted: February 17, 2026The phrase has been in my head since I heard Pr. Sherry McGuffin use it in her Around the Mitten reflection for Ash Wednesday. Pr. Sherry was talking about the messiness of the ashes on Ash Wednesday reflecting the messiness of our lives. The Muck. As we look at what happens when humans try to stand in the place of God — when human sin, selfishness, and greed control our decisions and choices, we see the ugliness of it all: poverty, starvation, violence, illness, separation.
I appreciate the breadth of the confession we use on Ash Wednesday. We confess everything from failing to put God first, to taking more than we need, to ignoring human suffering, to ruining God’s good creation. We have not just failed in one way. We have failed spectacularly! The Muck.
Gasse
Posted: January 20, 2026Sometimes wandering can be greatly enhanced by having the counsel of a professional. Last year when we visited Munich, Germany, we used Rick Steves Munich City Walk audio tour on our phones. There were a few things that we would have missed if not for Rick’s guiding. One of those things was Viscardgasse (pictured).
Just on the other side of this “gasse” (German for “alley”), lay a plaza containing a memorial dedicated to the so-called “martyrs of the Third Reich.” These were early Nazis who had been killed in Hitler’s coup attempt in 1923. Germans were required to raiser their arms in a Nazi-style salute as they entered the plaza. The only way to avoid this order was to turn down Viscardgasse instead. The golden stream of shiny cobblestones is a reminder of the detour taken by those who bravely refused to comply.
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